because sometimes there are invisible tests and invisible rules and you're just supposed to ... know the rule. someone you thought of as a friend asks you for book recommendations, so you give her a list of like 30 books, each with a brief blurb and why you like it. later, you find out she screenshotted the list and send it out to a group chat with the note: what an absolute freak can you believe this. you saw the responses: emojis where people are rolling over laughing. too much and obsessive and actually kind of creepy in the comments. you thought you'd been doing the right thing. she'd asked, right? an invisible rule: this is what happens when you get too excited.
you aren't supposed to laugh at your own jokes, so you don't, but then you're too serious. you're not supposed to be too loud, but then people say you're too quiet. you aren't supposed to get passionate about things, but then you're shy, boring. you aren't supposed to talk too much, but then people are mad when you're not good at replying.
you fold yourself into a prettier paper crane. since you never know what is "selfish" and what is "charity," you give yourself over, fully. you'd rather be empty and over-generous - you'd rather eat your own boundaries than have even one person believe that you're mean. since you don't know what the thing is that will make them hate you, you simply scrub yourself clean of any form of roughness. if you are perfect and smiling and funny, they can love you. if you are always there for them and never admit what's happening and never mention your past and never make them uncomfortable - you can make up for it. you can earn it.
don't fuck up. they're all testing you, always. they're tolerating you. whatever secret club happened, over a summer somewhere - during some activity you didn't get to attend - everyone else just... figured it out. like they got some kind of award or examination that allowed them to know how-to-be-normal. how to fit. and for the rest of your life, you've been playing catch-up. you've been trying to prove that - haha! you get it! that the joke they're telling, the people they are, the manual they got- yeah, you've totally read it.
if you can just divide yourself in two - the lovable one, and the one that is you - you can do this. you can walk the line. they can laugh and accept you. if you are always-balanced, never burdensome, a delight to have in class, champagne and glittering and never gawky or florescent or god-forbid cringe: you can get away with it.
you stare at your therapist, whom you can make jokes with, and who laughs at your jokes, because you are so fucking good at people-pleasing. you smile at her, and she asks you how you're doing, and you automatically say i'm good, thanks, how are you? while the answer swims somewhere in your little lizard brain:
how long have you been doing this now? mastering the art of your body and mind like you're piloting a puppet. has it worked? what do you mean that all you feel is... just exhausted. pick yourself up, the tightrope has no net. after all, you're cheating, somehow, but nobody seems to know you actually flunked the test. it's working!
aren't you happy yet?
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(submitted by someone i wish i could tag not my shit whoever did this because tumblr won’t let me see it i love you)
i am just going to make a masterpost of my school’s shenanigans
a: “ill tell you where its from after we get outta hearing range of (teacher). dont wanna get in trouble“ has gotten in trouble for swearing^
b: “(name) most of the things you say would get you in trouble”
a: “.. fair”
c (teacher) was proctoring and so we were in another classroom. he walked in, and immediately said “whats up knuckleheads”
d: “bbq beans???? its 07:11!!!”
e: “yeah”
f: “hand or mouth?”
g: “teeth”
f: “no”
h: “no”
a“please add arson (to a story) if you didn’t already”
b“that’s their first date wtf”
b“i want to add a dark turn to my story but half of the characters are already dead”
a “kill another”
b “hes gonna die later!”
a “whats wrong with a necromancy”
b“he already died once already!”
a“whats wrong with a SECOND necromancy?”
b“he only has 9 lives”
a“what about 100th necromancy?”
a“stab and run!”- quoting a list of crimes
b“thats a 6 year old”
a“what”
b”ripping out organs wasnt an issue”
a”oh thats just tuesday!”
b”what are you scared of?”
a“someone opening my writing app and reading it… (this bitch wrote porn!)and also the koolaid man.”
b”ohyeah”
(about pot stickers (the food)at school)
a “the outside of this tastes like pasta… lasagna ass bitch”
d: a
a: yea?
d: go home!
a: ok (turns around and leaves, mom picked her up)
“let go of the tree!”
“it makes oxygen for me i love it”
i just. saw a kid taking a swig of honey. it is nine in the morning. why. i am in fear
a “i dont care if its good i care if its done because mine sure isnt”
b “insurance???”
b “but seriously. how do you tone (english class)”
a “………….. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”
c “austria said ‘its mine! kick rocks.’”
c “austria said ‘i want to control it all because i have problems and therapy doesn’t exist yet’”
c “idk what you learn in b r a i n c l a s s” about psychology
i “i will cut out your spleen if you dont”
a “…”
i “jokes on u im into that shit”
a “do i even have a spleen?????”
i “NOT WHEN IM DONE WITH YOU!!! YOU WONT HAVE A PROBOSCUS. wait do you know how to spell that cuz i sure dont”
c throwing a basketball at the hoop “LEEBRON”
he missed
c “for michael jacksons legacy” missed bball shot
c “theres some guy! hanging from a Thing there!”
c “hes crying on a donkey! name something more sad!”
a“crying not on a donkey, donkeys are expensive”
a kid showed off his playboy hoodie to our teacher. she did not know where the logo is from and he walks a free man
a (hands croc to a mf): i entrust you with this to protect yourself and the money
g immediately: threateans a known kleptomaniac with the croc in defence of 5 high-schoolers pizza money
i took a yearbook picture of my friend pretending to draw in a notebook with a stylus for a touchscreen. will they notice? will they put it in the yearbook? who knows! only time will tell!
a “the pile of ppl are growing!”
a “there is a guy on the floor here. .. he is scuttling..”
g “hey colonoscopy man. leave.”
colonoscopy man “you talked to jesus didn’t you”
g “colonoscopy man leave”
j “stop mistreating- manhandling my banana”
honorable mention: molotov soaptail which caused emotional support among us
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the thing about killing jack drake in identity crisis is that it deprived us of the bruce and jack dynamic that makes tim miserable we deserved.
bruce doesn't know how to cook. jack also doesn't know how to cook. tim never wants to see a tuna fish sandwich again.
everytime bruce is too hard on tim, jack objects and says he should be easier on the boy. when bruce goes easier on him "you shouldn't be so soft on him."
bruce & jack argue over tim's future. bruce says he should be a detective. jack is adamant he should be an archeologist. tim would very much like to be excluded from this narrative.
"uh. listen to bruce" jack says. "uh. listen to your father" bruce says. tim doesn't want to listen to either of them.
how expensive are trips to paris again?
after bruce returns from the timestream he figures he may as well offer tim's jobless dad a job at the company side of batman inc. on account of he knows the secret. this job involves a lot of travel. now both of tim's dads are traveling 75% of the year. tim wonders why this keeps happening to him.
shit, he can't go to paris if bruce and jack are there.
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